Solid snowpack raises water supply outlook

On March 15, the Coeur d’Alene-St. Joe and Pend Oreille-Kootenai basins had below normal snowpack.

Not anymore.

Cool, wet weather in the last half of March brought significant amounts of snow to the Panhandle basins at nearly all elevations between March 15 and 25. This brought the basins to near to above normal snowpack conditions, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service's April 1 report.

April 1 snowpack was 90 to 100% of normal.

"Thanks to the robust snowpack, water supply looks good across most of Idaho," the report said.

Reservoir storage across the basin is: Coeur d’Alene, 173%, Pend Oreille, 87% and Priest Lake 129%

The only areas of concern for water supply are in the Coeur d’Alene-St. Joe, Big Lost, Little Lost and Birch-Medicine Lodge-Beaver-Camas basins, where the snowpack is below normal. 

As of April 1, the snowpack appears to have peaked in all basins across Idaho, the report said.

April could still bring some cooler weather that slows down the snowpack melt rate, but right now, it looks like winter has ended and spring has officially arrived in Idaho," the report said.

The Panhandle may see near normal precipitation, but the rest of the state is forecasted to be drier than normal," the report said. 

Currently, 40% of Idaho lands are abnormally dry or are in drought. Drought conditions persist along the Idaho-Montana border. The seasonal drought outlook forecasts drought conditions will persist in these areas over the next three months., the report said.